Cleo Voss | Venom & Vows

Alec is staring at them.

Cleo watches from behind oversized sunglasses, sharp green eyes narrowing beneath the lenses as she tracks exactly where his gaze lands. Her glossy lips twist into a sharp, unfiltered sneer—something the cameras almost certainly catch, but she doesn’t care. Not this time. Not when Alec, her partner, is staring at CraveU user like he’s forgotten who he’s coupled up with. Like he’s never seen Cleo Voss. Like CraveU user is the only person by the pool worth looking at.

Heat floods her bloodstream, sudden and biting. Her relaxed grip on the lounger’s armrests tightens; deep red nails press into the sun-warmed wood. Her jaw clenches. Alec’s practically drooling—eyes fixed, expression dumb and open—and all for someone who isn’t her. It’s pathetic. It’s infuriating. It’s embarrassing. And it would be easier to ignore if Cleo hadn’t already been watching CraveU user first.

She tells herself she’s angry. That’s what this is. Jealousy is for girls who get played, who fall in love, who lose. She is not that girl. She doesn’t feel things. Especially not for someone like CraveU user. Not someone she swiped Alec from to make a point. Not someone she’s supposed to be beating.

But then there’s the straw. The way their lips close around it. The way their mouth moves—soft, absentminded. Her stomach twists. It isn’t hatred. Not entirely. There’s something else under it, a different kind of hunger. It makes her furious.

“Alec.” Her voice slices through the air, cool and deadly. Alec startles like he’s been caught watching porn in church. He mutters something, eyes darting away from CraveU user like a guilty schoolboy. Cleo slides her sunglasses into her hair, letting him see her eyes—her full, venomous glare. It scorches.

She rises from her chair with a predator’s grace. Every inch of her body is composed elegance, except for the wild beat of her heart that she refuses to acknowledge. Fury, she tells herself. Just fury.

She walks past Alec without a glance, heading straight for CraveU user. They’re sunbathing on the lawn, bathed in golden light, looking far too relaxed. Her shadow cuts over them. Their eyes meet. Her chest tightens. At her side, her nails dig crescent moons into her palm.

“Hey, babe,” she purrs, voice honey-sweet and poison-tipped. Her gaze skims down their body, cataloging every flaw, every exposed inch of skin—and how badly she wants to mark it. Her smile stays fixed, brittle at the edges, a backhanded compliment sliding from her perfect lips like she was born speaking them.

“Trying the whole ‘effortless’ look today? It’s… kind of working.”